Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Hello, belated Happy Easter to you. After my last post I kinda took stock of my blog and realised over the last little while it seems that all I do is knit. Of course you know I do all the other stuff like job and house work and I am pretty sure you don't want to hear about my assignments or cleaning the loo. But what about the other fun craft/domestic stuff that I hold dear and I sometimes forget to tell you about. What about that?So I thought I would tell you about Thursdays. Thursday evenings to be precise. A whole lot of years ago more than five and less than ten. When I was doing the school run I used to look in a living room window and see a wonderful foundation pieced butterfly quilt hanging on the wall in spectacular batiks. I walked passed that window for a lot of months until finally one morning the owner and her mum were coming out of her door just as I was passing. I plucked up courage and asked her about it and sure enough she had made it herself! Her mum also had one. LittleBlueTortoise, J and I now get together pretty much every Thursday. In the begining we just quilted. Now We sew, we knit and crochet all interspersed with laughter, chai tea and more often than not sampling of their baking. Last week they had made a Simnel Cake a yearly tradition with them. Only this year I took the recipe home with me and made my very own.

Can you notice anything different about it? yep 15 balls Simnel Cake is not only associated with Easter but also with mothers day and on Sunday I celebrated 15 years of Motherhood( but that is another knitting story). Over the last few months we have come to the conclusion that we work best when we are working on the same sewing project. Before Christmas we made an Angel from Madeline Millington I had bought a kit the previous year at Harrogate and was determined to make it up so LittleBlueTortoise also made one from my scraps and her own huge fabric stash.

Since Christmas we have been working on a little heart wall hanging. All of our little hearts are now appliqued but, we downed tools to each make this little fellow from Betz White.The pattern wasn't really much and the instructions relied heavily on glue but, our little group was inspirational and I am really pleased with the result. Most of my felted fabric was from a charity shop or was begged or borrowed from other crafty friends. But the embroidery threads belonged mainly to my grandmother. They are old and in the main very fragile, they snap really easily but there was something really satisfying about being able to use them,The little star window which was a scrap of fabric left over from a dress made when Elenya was small. I finished it just in time for Easter though LittleBlueTortoise assures me it is quite suitable to leave out for at least the whole of spring. What do you think?Arianwen xx

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

My queue on Ravelry is exhorbatant. 1095 items have caught my eye not nessesarily things I will ever make - many items have been forgotten. Some I crave but, just haven't found the perfect yarn. Some I haven't got around to casting on even though yarn and pattern are both in stash. Sometimes items jump the queue and Rama is just such and item. Oriana has got the knitting bug and her and I pore over things that we like or friends have made.

A few weeks ago Oriana saw Emma Fassio's cardigan for her little girl and really loved it. I figured that I would make it when the pattern came out but just on the off chance asked Emma if she would like a test knitter and she did! The yarn is Ianthe by Louisa Harding it is the same fibre combination as Rowan woolcotton but somehow it feels more summery. The buttons are great they are sparkeley! The shop only had 4 so they were destined for the Rama cardigan.

Oriana chose the colour at RamShambles when we were in York. I have to say I actually really like it ( I bought 6 balls and have one left so I am tempted to add to it and make something for me. The pattern is easy to follow and only took 250g of yarn. When I finished it one of Oriana's friends exclaimed it was lovely but would be nice in green so I think I might be making some more of them in the near future!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

The Easter Holiday's have finally begun. Everyone in this house has been ready for it for at least the last week ( me probably longer) and although I have lots of college work to do over the next couple of weeks I am determined that we are all going to get in a lot of r and r. We have just enjoyed our first bbq of the year and now We are gearing up for our first sleep over of the holidays tonight.Mine r 'n r of course comes in the shape of knitting. I also started a secret knit last week which I finished this morning and will share with you later in the week. For me I have cast on Audrey again. The photo looks a little blue but, it is a proper green.

This time it is in Rowan woolcotton from stash the gauge is slightly larger than the lousia harding kashmir that I used last time and I am hoping for a slightly longer waisted cardigan this time. I picked this yarn as I just invested in a couple of new summer dresses from the white stuff that it should be perfect with.

For Elenya, I have this morning cast on Liesl, in some lovely 4ply cotton that I bought on sale in Canada a couple of years back, it is a super quick knit on a 7mm needle and I would have finished the yoke but I need to measure it up against her and that will have to wait until later. It is strange to think that I have had the pattern for this at least two years and I had always envisaged it being for me( at some point I will make it for me) but, Elenya is fifteen next week and is properly in the grown up sizes!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Hello my lovelies, Just thought I would pop in and catch up before tomorrow's post.

I finished Crocus yay! It was finished for Mother's Day and I wore it for our day trip to York. It was a nice day out just wandering about looking at things topped off with a trip to the wool shop RamShambles(and a purchase, more about that tomorrow) and dinner out. Unfortunately the weather was not great and where as I had envisaged a day with my cardigan draped over my arm most of the time we were huddled in coats ( which explains how crumpled my dress looks). This was such a nice pattern to knit. I love the way that the little bells sit proud of the cardigan.

I dropped the neck and have to say I am pleased with the result. The cardigan is a lovely soft purple but, it doesn't seem to matter what light you take the photos in it bleaches out. it was also a nightmare for buttons. I just couldn't find anything to match that didn't look very old lady or small child. The kids thought that I should add purple ladybird buttons to it which although they were cute I felt would cut down on its wearability. These ones are sort of a mother of pearl effect with glued on backs. They are quite pretty but how long they will last remains to be seen.Anyway I am off back to an hour of knitting so see you tomorrow.